Monday, September 10, 2018

The Legion Transuit

Editor's Note: Recently we sent out an A-1 Alert asking any long-time Legion fans to submit posts they would like to see us share here in United Planets space. Today we are happy to present this essay about the Legion transuit by Todd Ramsey. We hope you find it as interesting as we did!

by Todd Ramsey

Hello to everyone and thanks for having me. The original version of this post appeared on
my blog marvelboy74.blogspot.com. This post has been updated from that essay with a few more facts
regarding the evolution of Legion space suits.

So what is a transuit?The DC Wikia describes it like this:

The Legion Transuit is a thin, translucent
polymer that fits snuggly over the top of a Legionnaire's costume. The suit
enabled them to function in environments without a sustainable atmosphere, such
as outer space. The suit is durable enough to protect them from extreme temperatures
and pressure.

And just to clarify, the quick definition of
polymer is:

a substance that has a molecular structure
consisting chiefly or entirely of a large number of similar units bonded
together, e.g., many synthetic organic materials used as plastics and resins.

It's never been explicitly stated how Saran Wrap
was able to do all of this. I could not find the first appearance of the
transuit. Some of the earliest
depictions of transparent space suits were accompanied by an “advanced”
headglobe. (Notice the antenna)

Sorry for being impolite here. The reality is that those working on the
Legion didn't have much frame of reference for what space suits could be. In
1958, when the Legion was created, Mankind did not have its first spaceflight
yet (Russia did that in 1961). But it appears they were using that aesthetic in Legion
designs.

Note here the Russian space suit in its bright
orange color.

And now note these Legion space suits used in
Adventure #304 (1962).Imra is in a gold
suit while Garth is a green suit.It
seems to me that the Russians' choice of color may have inspired the comic
creators to put the Legion in colored suits as well.

The United States, however, seemed to move
towards silver suits for their astronauts.

The Legion also seemed to keep with this trend, too.Here in 2966, Projectra is wearing
what appears to be a silvery type space suit with head-globe.And a cape because SHE’S A DAMN
PRINCESS.The problem with these types
of suits, though, is that they can make characters easily unrecognizable ....if
they aren’t wearing their cape.

Enter: the see-through suit.

I haven't been able to pin down which issue they
make the switch to transparent suits.Of
note here in S&LSH #225 (1977), the head globes actually have some metal piece
integrated.It can be assumed the metal
part houses all the respiratory functions for the suit.

Initially the transuit was something that the
wearer had to put on, one leg at a time. But later it appeared that once
activated, it would just envelope the wearer and seal. The method of activation
is still unclear. Did it have a manual
activation? Was it activated by a
thought from the wearer? Or did it also
have an automatic activation in cases of explosive decompression?

In the case of the original pre-CRISIS stories, the
technology continued to evolve.We later see
it to be self-sealing, which would help in case the suit is punctured in some
way.It would have to be somewhat
ablative that it could help cushion against space debris and other
impacts.In fact, in one story, Dawnstar
dives into a cruiser to save Light Lass.Light Lass is unharmed but Dawnstar gets cut up.Shoulda worn a transuit Dawny. But we never
actually see where the suit comes from.It’s possible it comes from the flight ring but the art does not suggest
anything in particular.

Depictions of the suits during the Reboot showed
a metal cuff that presumably housed all the environmental circuitry but artists
have been fairly inconsistent in showing the suit and it's armband. These suits also had to be put on, at least
initially.

But what does it really do?

Here is where the usage of the transuit in
stories becomes somewhat inconsistent.First, we must look at what our current era 21st Century spacesuits do.

1. pressurize for the vacuum of space

2. protect against the cold of space while
providing a cooling environment inside

3. provide a breathable atmosphere

4. shield from UV radiation

Now, as far as additional functions like drinking
water and waste management, I assume would not be included no matter how far
Mon-El wants to carry Shadow Lass across the galaxy.

We have never seen, though, is what are the upper
limits of temperature management.When five Legionnaires were stuck on an asteroid, they built a fire to keep warm
(never mind that they probably did not have the oxygen to sustain a fire).

And then, on the hothouse world of Tharr, the White
Witch doesn't use her transuit, instead relying on her spells to maintain her body temperature. I have no idea why, other
than writer Paul Levitz adding some unnecessary plot point.
We have no in-continuity detail on Tharr's temperatures; however, the
planet Venus can get up to 462 degrees Celsius so we could assume Tharr would
be somewhat similar.

But as this story is written, should we infer that transuits
fail at such high temperatures? If
Legionnaires can exit and re-enter a planetary atmosphere with a transuit, then
it can withstand the heat and friction from traveling through the atmosphere
quite easily. Our modern day space
shuttles withstand heat up to 1649 degrees Celsius, which is much hotter than the
temperatures on Venus and, likely, Tharr.

One
possible explanation is that a transuit can sustain a higher heat for a short time,
but lower heat for a longer time is more taxing. A transuit would have to be able to protect
automatically against light as sunlight is quite brilliant without an
atmosphere to help diffuse it. If you
can barely look at the sun on the planet Earth, you won't be able to look at it
at all in space. So the transuit must be self regulating to a point for light,
temperature, and pressure. Similarly, liquid environments should pose very
little stress to a transuit.

What about radiation though? One would have to assume that with all the
outer space missions the Legionnaires go on that transuits would have to offer
a bit more in radiation protection that what our modern space suits do. Here is
where the science fiction really starts to break down. Ultra Boy has been shown
to keep up with Mon-El and Dawnstar, but to do so, he usually relies on a transuit for protection since he is using his super-speed, not his invulnerability. Earth is surrounded by the Van Allen radiation belt so the
transuit would have to offer him protection from that as well. These things have to be pretty insulated. So while
they are not force-fields, they are going to prevent a lot of attacks from various
super-villains.

Psst, Tinya, turn on your transuit.But this raises other conundrums as
well.In the Reboot, Andromeda wore a
transuit to protect her from lead poisoning. However, she was eventually exposed because those
transuits were not self-sealing and hers was torn in a confrontation.What else could a transuit do?Protect Superman(boy) from green Kryptonite
radiation and red sun rays?Could it
filter out all visible light to give Night Girl her powers even during
daylight? Enemies with cold powers would be defeated easily as well as those
with gaseous and pheromone powers.Maybe
the transuit is too powerful for its own good if you really want it to protect
against the rigors and vacuum of space.

Thanks, Todd!

What do you think about the Legion transuit? Let us know in the comments below!

If you would like to submit a post as a Guest Blogger, please send either an idea or an actual essay to legionbloggers@gmail.com. Long Live the Legion!

They used the individual character logos/emblems on the Silver Ahe silver ones in Adventure #350. Can't remember if we saw that ever again.

You happen to have posted the exact page I was thinking of here:https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sWdPWkftnYo/Wz_mEuCsu5I/AAAAAAAAFvY/vc5w6r0gxfof2qeOvWdCOjIV2NMk-QpkACEwYBhgL/s1600/P00005%2B%2528545x800%2529.jpg

Follow Us!

Follow by Email

About The Super Bloggers

Three naive and innocent travelers of the world-wide-web were minding their own business when super-star industrialist the Irredeemable Shag called out to them in his super-hypnotic voice with a mission! And thus Bilingual Boy, Metropolis Kid, and Kord Kid answered the call and thus The Legion of Super-Bloggers was born! (And it was good!)

As soon as we incorporated, we reached out for more super-aliens to fill our ranks. We asked Siskoid Five,The Duo Davids,and Dr. Anjto join so we would have a true Legion-on-Legion... because, ya know, it takes a Legion to write about the Future!

Banded together from the farthest reaches of the galaxy (or atleast the internet), we have vowed since Autumn 2014 to celebrate one of the greatest super-hero franchises in the history of comics!

And just like the "real" Legion, we have had some membership changes along the way. We have added new members. Others have taken on reserve status. Some have traveled to Marzal. And yes, some members have even passed on (but not in the line of duty!) Newer members have included Legionnaire Lad,Myk-El, Continuity Kid,Shotgun, Sarcasm Kid, Nostalgic Kid,Articulated Lad, Ultra Fan, and Anachronistic Kid! Heroes All!!

So if you are new to this time-period and these outer worlds, sit back and enjoy meeting these great characters and concepts for the first time.

If you are already a Legion fan, join in the conversations about which version is best, and why!

We hope to have something for everybody, as we reminisce about the various futures we can all look forward to!

CREDITS

The Legion of Super-Heroes and all related characters, names, and elements and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of DC Comics, Inc.

Instock Trades

InStockTrades.com is your best on-line source for all Legion of Super-Heroes trades, hard-covers, and other collected editions! And ALL of them for up to 45% off the original cover price! With free shipping for orders of $50 or more. If you do go to www.instocktrades.com and order anything, please tell them that the Legion of Super Bloggers sent you! Long Live the Legion!